On Wednesday, a panel of judges on the United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals refused a request from the Department of Justice (DOJ) to block a lower court’s stay on an executive order issued by President Donald Trump, which seeks to redefine birthright citizenship rights.

Trump’s order, issued on the second day of his second term in office, asserts that the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution “has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.” That claim, however, contradicts over a century of Supreme Court precedent, and a plain reading of the first clause of the amendment goes against the president’s reasoning.

That clause reads:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.

Earlier this month, four states’ attorneys general sued the Trump administration over the executive order. U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour issued an injunction on enforcing the order, penning a scathing response to the White House’s brazen attempt to redefine a constitutional amendment.

“The rule of law is, according to [Trump], something to navigate around or something ignored, whether that be for political or personal gain,”

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